Prick bottom and sides well with a fork. Bake in very hot
oven (450° F.) until pastry is golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Extra dough may be stored in refrigerator.

*An alternative to Crisco is butter. Use 1 1/2 sticks, cold
butter, cut into small pieces for a two-crust pie; use 3/4 stick, 6 tablespoons
cold butter, for a single crust pie. To see a more formal version of a pie
crust made with butter or margarine, if you insist on that substitute, double
click here on Perfect Pie Crust,Perfect Pie Crust,
a recipe for pastry which accompanies our recipe for Mince Pie.

Tootie never told me where she first found this recipe, but
she did use Crisco-brand shortening.

The Crisco company has created
sticks of Crisco now and updated their recipe to include that easy-to-measure
alternative. To read their suggestion, modernized and updated, double
click here on Updated Pie Crust made
with shortening. Regardless of the choice -- shortening, such as
Crisco, or butter, remember the success of the pastry depends
largely on the tender, loving care of the cook. Though, the pastry chef's secret
is to add at least a small amount of Crisco to the butter-based crust to ensure
flakiness.